For a guy who had only played six previous games in the outfield in a major league stadium, and none in nearly three months, the last thing that Matt Adams needed was for the world to start spinning Tuesday in the early innings of his first game in left field for the Braves.
And that’s what happened midgame against the Dodgers, forcing Adams to exit after five innings.
“I think it was a migraine,” Adams said Thursday afternoon, feeling normal for the first time since the incident. “Yesterday (Wednesday) when I came in I just looked down at the floor when I was walking because the light was bothering me. My head was just pounding.”
The Braves initially said Adams had dizziness that possibly resulted from a virus. While Adams didn’t dismiss the virus possibility, what he described and what he thought was the issue sounded like classic symptoms of a migraine, though he’d never experienced one before.
“No, never had a migraine before in my life,” he said. “It was no fun, I’ll tell you that. ... They said (dehydration) might have sparked it. But they said there’s a lot of things that could have sparked it. It’s in the past, and I feel better today, so that’s all that really matters.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said before Tuesday’s game that Freddie Freeman was moving back to first base and Adams would be the primary left fielder until Matt Kemp returns from the disabled list. There’s no timetable for Kemp’s return, and Snitker said he’d worry about what happens in left field once Kemp returns but not until then.
The Braves want to do whatever it takes, within reason, to keep Adams’ bat in the lineup. He had a .279 average with 15 home runs, 54 RBIs and a robust .562 slugging percentage in 60 games since he was traded to the Braves.
The Cardinals tried him in left field during spring training and for six games (five starts) early this season – five in early April and the other game May 6 against the Braves at SunTrust Park – but weren’t satisfied enough with his defense to keep him in that role. They were using the slugger as a pinch-hitter before trading him to the Braves when the Braves needed a temporary replacement for Freeman after he fractured his wrist May 17.
Freeman returned as a third baseman the week before the All-Star break, but that experiment is over, and the Braves have him back at his natural position and Adams in left field.
“I’ve just got to get used to it again,” Adams said. “I’ve been focusing on first base. I’m the type of guy that I’m willing to do anything to help the club, whatever they ask of me. All the BPs (batting practices) I’m just going to take balls off the bat and just try to get more comfortable seeing the ball come off the bat and try to get some better reads out there.”
Adams was looking forward to Thursday batting practice – not so he could hit, but rather to take as many fly balls as possible in left field. Alas, batting practice on the field was cancelled because of rain that was gone before the first pitch of the night’s series finale against the Dodgers.
He wasn’t in the lineup because manager Brian Snitker said he wanted to give him another day to rest after the dizziness. Also wasn’t a bad day for the left-handed slugger to be out the lineup anyway with the Dodgers throwing an elite left-hander (Alex Wood).
But Adams was available to pinch-hit and will be back in the lineup Friday against the Marlins, who are also throwing a lefty (Adam Conley) in the opener of a three-game series at SunTrust Park. And the 6-foot-3, 230-pound “Big City” plans to be in left field during batting practice, going after as many fly balls as he can.
“The first couple of games of the season in St. Louis I got thrown out there” in left field, he said. “And one here (at SunTrust Park with the Cardinals). So it’s definitely new again, been a couple of months since I’ve been out there. But TP (bench coach Terry Pendleton) has been good with me out there, telling me what I should do during BP and whatnot and try to get my reads down.
“I’ll be out there and (chasing fly balls in batting practice) when the ball’s off the bat. That’s the key to getting comfortable out there, for sure.”
Snitker said, “He should be fine out there (in left field). Moves good enough, it’s just a matter of getting out there and getting some reps, seeing balls. I’m hoping he can get out there in BP today, see some balls off the bat. But there’s no reason why he can’t play out there.”
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